The beginning of Leora’s Early Years: Guthrie County Roots is enhanced by the poem, “Morrisburg Cemetery,” by Nicholas Dowd, who grew up in Guthrie Center. Grandma Leora knew his father, who was the town pharmacist at Dowd Drug.
Morrisburg Cemetery “For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of the grass. The grass withereth, and flower thereof falleth away. But the word of the Lord endureth forever. . . ” I Peter 1:24-25 At the edge Of the Stuart Road Sleep the Morrisburg souls. A hilltop town Flourishing for a time, Before splintering In a storm. Without warning Their time came. Now years of serenity Cover them On this high curve. Decades of summers Shelter these souls. A community of friends Stilled, and now settled Patiently at rest, Men, women, children awaiting the archangel call. He will find them all Here, south of Panora Amid the tallgrass drifts. — Nicholas Dowd (2014)
Clabe Wilson’s mother, Georgia, was a member of the nearby Morrisburg church and was buried in the nearby cemetery in 1917. Her pioneer parents and several other relatives are buried there.
The town was laid out in 1855 and was on a stagecoach route. The railroad didn’t include Morrisburg, so the town didn’t grow. When a tornado destroyed the little town on those rolling hills in 1871, the population dwindled, some moving to Dale City.
The church and cemetery are six miles north of Stuart on P28, 8 miles south of Panora on the same road.
Georgia Williams Wilson, was born in Dale City in 1964. Her sisters, Serepta and Edna Alice, were also born there in 1859 and 1872. Edna and Georgia are buried at Morrisburg, as are their parents, Samuel and Martha Williams, their grandparents John and Harriet (Chilcoate) Williams, as well as several aunts and uncles (who had been born in Ohio).
The homestead of Samuel and Harriet Williams was a mile west of the Morrisburg Church.
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I knew that my great grandmother, Georgia Williams Davis Wilson, was buried at Morrisburg. It felt somehow desolate, since her husband Daniel Wilson is buried at Coon Rapids among the Wilsons.
But recently a genealogist has been collecting information about Georgia Wilson’s descendants. He told me that there are at least thirty Williams relatives buried at Morrisburg. So Great Grandmother Georgia is among family.
I had just re-savored Nick’s poem about the cemetery so asked if I could share it, along with the verse he began with. Ever gracious, he said, “Of course. That would be wonderful.”
A poignant blessing.
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Nick Dowd also wrote the poem “Meadowlark” that introduces Leora’s Letters: The Story of Love and Loss for an Iowa Family During World War II.
I think it’s terrific that you not only save your own family’s history, but your state as well.
Thank you, GP! I do enjoy being an Iowa girl!
I’m glad your great grandmother had other family members around her. I agree it would be lonely without your spouse – even in death.
I don’t think she would have chosen to be buried with him. https://joynealkidney.com/2018/01/11/famous-among-the-red-hog-men/
Lovely post, Joy. When people starting moving away in all directions, the local cemeteries lost their place as a “gathering ground” for families. Does that sound ghoulish? I don’t mean it that way.
No, it doesn’t. Mom’s ancestors are scattered some, but Dad’s are in the small Dexter cemetery. I like it that I’ll be among the seventh generation buried there, along with my husband. And since we have one son, who lives out of state, our headstones are already in place. (My husband wanted to get in on a monuments sale!) https://joynealkidney.com/2019/12/16/wanderer-in-the-cemetery/
7th generation is just amazing, Joy. Wow, I wish my family was in one place.
Nicholas’s poem has such a peaceful feel to it. Thinking of a final resting place this way if very comforting.
Thank you, Liz. He said it came to him all at once.